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A LETTER 



TO THE 



CHESTNUT ST. CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, 



CHELSEA, MASS., 



IN REPLY TO ITS CHARGE 



OF 



HAVING BECOME A REPROACH TO THE CAUSE OF TRUTH. 
IN CONSEQUENCE OF A CHANGE OF RELIGIOUS BELIEF. 



BY JOHN S. ADAMS. 



AD. 



He answered and said, . . . One thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now 
ee." "And they cast him out." — John 9: 25,34. 



" Why not of your own selves judge ye what is right ? " — Jesus. 

" The corner-stone of our Fabric is the Light Within, as God's gift for man's salvation. This is 
Emanuel or God with us, and this admits not of any book or judge to come between this voice of 
God and the soul, as its rule of faith and practice." — Wm. Penn. 

"The intuitive convictions of the minds of created beings as to honor and dishonor, right and 
wrong, are the most important in the universe. They are the voice of God himself in the soul." 
— Edward Beecher. 

" Some readers may take offence at some of the sentiments of this book. Especially will this be 
likely to happen with those who have not been accustomed to distinguish what is divine and what 
is human in the sacred record." — Neander. 



BOSTON: 
PUBLISHED BY BELA MARSH, 15 FRANEXIN STREET. 

NEW YORK : PARTRIDGE & BRITTAN, 300 BROADWAY. 
PHILADELPHIA : B. PERCIVAL, 89 SOUTH SIXTH ST. 

• 1854. 






according to Act of Congress, in the year 1854, by 
JOHN S. ADAMS, 
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the District of Massachusetts. 



STEREOTYPED BY 

HOBART & BOBBINS, 

NEW ENGLAND TYPE AND STEREOTYPE FOUNDERY, 

BOSTON. 



LETTER 



To the Members of the Chestnut- street Congregational 
Church, Chelsea, Mass. 

It is now nearly two years since my attention was first 
directed to the subject of Spiritual Intercourse. I saw, 
at once, that it was a subject of great importance, and 
that it demanded a careful and candid examination, for 
two reasons : 

First, If it was true, it was a blessing of inestimable 
worth. 

Second, If it was an error, it was one productive of 
incalculable evil 

In either case, it demanded man's most energetic 
action. 

I entered upon my examination free to receive truth, 
and guarded against all approach of error. I beheld the 
manifestations in every variety of form, and under all 
circumstances. Soon my wife became the medium of 
communication, and closely, in my own house, I studied 
the events that transpired. Her development was grad- 
ual, and with it my faith in the truth of the subject grew 
daily stronger ; until, to deny the fact of actual, sensible 
communication with my spirit-friends, would be to deny 



my own senses ; for the proof was as positive as that the 
sun shines at noon- day. 

From the first of my interest in the subject, I was free 
to make it known to all. Yet not one of those who had 
professed to have a care over my spiritual interests came 
near me. 

With my pastor, whom I had always loved, and do 
yet highly esteem, I was open and free. I urged him to 
call upon me, and with me freely examine a subject whose 
faith was fast encircling my own mind ; and not only 
mine, but those of a vast multitude in the church. A 
subject making the claims that this does would seem, at 
least, worthy of a fair examination, especially by those 
who minister at the altars of the visible church. 

The general opinion is that the clergy look upon this 
subject as a delusion — a falsehood. Yet the clergy 
know, or should know, that what they, in a perfect igno- 
rance of the facts, call a delusion, has within a few years 
won over to a firm, unchangeable adherence to its belief, 
over one million in this country alone, many of whom are 
in their own churches, under their own special guardian- 
ship. They know, also, that the views now held by this 
large and rapidly increasing army, included in which are 
many of the strongest intellects of the age, are, in many 
points, directly opposed to their creeds, — a belief in 
which is by them considered essential to eternal happi- 
ness. In view of these things, I cannot account for the 
inactivity of the clergy, and their evasion of a just ex- 
amination of the subject. Surely, the five years during 
which these manifestations have been rife have afforded 
sufficient time and opportunity for them thoroughly to 
examine, and, if it be a delusion, to expose it. All who 
have ventured to examine have found that what they 



ignorantly called a delusion is, indeed, a glorious truth. 
Those who hold back seem fearful to test the matter, lest 
they also be driven, irresistibly, to the same conclusion, 
and to a change of doctrinal views. 

My pastor answered my written request with perfect 
silence ; and, though day after day, and week following 
week, I waited and hoped he would come forward and 
learn the true nature of the facts in the case, yet I waited 
and hoped in vain. 

Daily, hourly, my faith grew stronger, and I felt the 
presence of holy spirits, and listened to their glad mes- 
sages. I shall not have space in this letter to narrate 
my spiritual experience, — I can only say it has been, 
and is, inexpressibly happy. 

Thus convinced, beyond the- possibility of a doubt, that 
spirits who once inhabited bodies like our own, our 
nearest and dearest friends, can and do commune with 
and instruct us ; and, also, believing that they, having 
passed beyond the veil that conceals from our natural eye 
the future that awaits us, have a better knowledge of the 
realities of the world to come, man's duty here and destiny 
hereafter, than any man or number of men on earth ; I 
accept their teachings rather than any others, always 
subjecting them to the test of reason, and my own intui- 
tive sense of right. 

Would you not listen when angels whisper in your 
ears, and the spirit-mother — she who, when in this state 
of existence, you loved, believed and obeyed — tells you 
of the future ? You can listen. You can catch upon 
your waiting ear that mother's voice. You can be con- 
vinced of her actual presence near you. You never 
doubted her before. Will you now 1 That sister, too, 
who many, very many years ago, bade you "good-by," 

i* 



and spake no word again, stands often at your side. She 
comes with glad tidings for you. She comes to tell you 
of the glorious home she has found beyond the skies, 
and to bid you dismiss your doubts, banish your fears, for 
such a home awaits you. Do you doubt her words ? Do 
you turn from her angel-teachings to the theories of 
men ? How can you ? 

Let me assure you these are no fancy thoughts. In 
these remarks I do not suppose these things are so, but I 
know from happy experience that they are, — an experi- 
ence which worlds on worlds cannot purchase ; the endur- 
ing, satisfying joys of which no human thought can 
fathom. Such an experience can be yours, if you will 
accept it; yours personally, yours practically. "Seek 
and ye shall find : knock and it shall be opened unto 
you." 

But the church will not seek, and how can it find ? 
Here are great facts transpiring all around it. Why 
should the church turn its back upon truths so glorious ? 
For the self-same reason that the Jewish church rejected 
Christ, because their teachings are not in unison with its 
old belief. I pity this church. I pity it for its want of 
faith, for its struggle against truth, for its rejection, in 
the denial of these manifestations, of the most promi- 
nent events of Scriptural record. The believers m spirit- 
ualism fear not the closest scrutiny of the foundation of 
their belief. They ask investigation, for they know that 
a candid examination will convince the most sceptical of 
the truth of the subject. Those persons are sadly igno- 
rant of these things who suppose that spiritualism rests 
on raps and tipping tables. Such manifestations were 
first demanded, in order to attract attention, and satisfy 
the materialism of the age. Now, the husband speaks 



with the wife, who, for many years, he mourned as one 
lost ; and the wife with the husband. Parents converse 
with children, children with departed parents, sister with 
brother, friend with friend ; and when these kindly greet- 
ings are over, and affection finds a response to its voice 
of love, knowledge of that better world is sought, and 
spirits of intelligence, who have studied in the courts of 
heaven the wisdom of spirit-life, come and teach us as those 
having authority, and not as the scribes. But they claim 
not infallibility, and they ask us to exercise our reason, 
and judge for ourselves the truth of what they tell us. 

Shall I reject all these things because their teachings 
do not coincide with my previous views ? Were I infal- 
lible, I might do so ; but as I am, I cannot. Consequently, 
when I see newly-developed truths as this light shines 
upon my path, I accept them gladly, and the result thus 
far is, that whereas I was once blind, I now see ; and 
with the deepest sincerity, with the most heart-felt grat- 
itude, I thank God that through ministering angels I 
have been enabled to see Him as He is, and to know 
Him as He is known. 

Your committee called on me twice. Not one single 
word from any member until an official action ! On 
neither occasion was any word offered to prove my posi- 
tion wrong. And why? Because I had a foundation 
of which they knew nothing, and what could they say ? 
I thank them for their manner of inquiring respecting my 
views, and trust that they and you will continue your 
inquiries until you all shall know the rock on which my 
feet are standing, and stand there also. 

On the 10th inst. I received a letter from your com- 
mittee, of which the following is a copy: 



8 

" Chelsea, May 9th, 1854. 
" Mr. John S. Adams. 

" Dear Brother : The undersigned, a committee 
appointed by the church of which you and we are mem- 
bers, to specify charges against you which, greatly to our 
grief and that of our brethren, have become a reproach 
to the cause which you have solemnly professed to love, — 

" We charge you, 

" 1st. With a violation of your solemn covenant with 
this church, in forsaking the communion and public wor- 
ship with its members. 

" 2d. We charge you with denying the inspiration and 
divine authenticity of the Holy Scriptures. 

"After having reported your cause at a meeting of 
the church, called for that purpose, we were instructed 
to prefer charges against you, and summon you to appear 
before it on Friday evening next, the 12th inst., at half- 
past eight o'clock, in the large vestry of the Chestnut- 
street Society, then and there to show reasons, if any 
you have, why the church should not proceed to separate 
you from its fold. 

" Dear brother, we entreat you to consider your course, 
and retrace your steps, and compel us not to resort to 
this last solemn act, the highest and most momentous 
that a church can perform. Meanwhile, we shall not 
cease to pray for your restoration and return to duty. 
" In behalf of the church, 

" Your brethren in Christ, 

"L B. Horton, 
"K. F. Park." 

Now, I ask, what is the cause I professed to love ? 
Was it the cause of your creed, your doctrines ? No, 



far from it. The cause I professed to love was the cause 
of God and of truth. I love it still; and I can offer no 
greater proof to you of my love for it than to declare the 
joy I have in now publicly throwing aside the bonds of 
your covenant, that I may join indissolubly my whole soul 
to that cause. I did not profess to love your theology — 
it is the theology of man. It is full of contradictions 
and inconsistencies, full of perplexities and doubts. It 
leads man to study and trammel his mind with doctrines 
which, in future years, the fire and hammer of truth must 
labor hard to dislodge. 

But I did profess to love the theology of God. It is 
always the same. The flower always buds and blossoms, 
and teaches the same lesson. God's theology leads me 
in beautiful paths, beside still waters, and ever upward 
and onward through myriad millions of countless crea- 
tions, to the great Creator ; and I am taught, at every 
step, that He is my Father and my God. God's theology 
is written on the broad pages of the universe. Nature 
is its creed, and the closer I .adhere to its requirements, 
the happier I shall be. I ask no better. I can have 
none. It is more enduring than tables of stone, and less 
changeable than any book. Jesus spoke a sermon from 
it when he said, "Do unto others as ye would that others 
should do unto you." Such a creed never lit Smithfield 
fires, never invented Inquisitorial tortures. It never 
thrust mankind into dens of lions, nor broke their limbs 
on a wheel. It never created a hell for human souls. 

"Do unto others as ye would that others should do 
unto you." Glorious doctrine ! Heavenly creed ! Hu- 
manity's confession of faith ! 

Do you say I have become a reproach to the cause I 
profess to love ? I deny the charge. Because I do not 



10 



conform to your creed, am I recreant to truth ? Are 
you infallible ? If not, then there is a possibility that 
you may be wrong. 

You bring charges against me, and what are these 
charges ? 

You charge me with an exercise of my own freedom ; 
with doing as my own conscience demands that I shoul'd 
do. You charge me with exercising my own will, in 
opposition to church ~ authority. Gentlemen, I acknowl- 
edge no authority but God. I bow to no law but the 
higher law, written indelibly on my own heart ; and 
though the church and the state become leagued against 
that authority, and that law, I will not forsake God's 
truth ; no, never ! 

Deeply conscious that the doctrines of the Orthodox 
church are not founded on truth, I resolved to discounte- 
nance its errors, and to employ the little ability I might 
possess against them. Sabbath after Sabbath, as I attended 
your place of worship, my whole soul revolted against 
many of the teachings I there heard. True, some were 
of God, but I could not keep from my mind those dark, 
despairing, hopeless doctrines you profess to believe, 
rendering your whole system contradictory and inconsist- 
ent in itself. I considered those doctrines unjust to man, 
and equally dishonorable to God ; and I left, pitying you, 
yet charitably believing that in the inmost recesses of 
your own souls such views found no quiet resting-place ; 
for I deem it impossible for any rational, reasoning, free 
mind to adopt them unhesitatingly as its own. 

Thousands, to-day, live despairingly in the spirit- world, 
crushed and weighed down with the chains the creed of 
popular theology has placed upon them. I speak un- 
derstandingly. Could you hear, as I have heard, the 



11 



voices of such immortals, saying, " We were taught God 
had cast us off forever, and we cannot advance ; it is 
useless to attempt it ; " and as we told them that such a 
belief was erroneous, that God was drawing all unto him- 
self, that his love and care was over all his works, from 
the smallest atom to the highest seraph ; and as we led 
them up, step by step, to more just views of God, and more 
hopeful views of their own destiny ; and as, finally, we 
heard them rejoicing in the light that then began to dawn 
upon them, and in the bliss they experienced, you would 
not wonder that my soul is roused, and a determination 
exists within me to act with my whole being in opposi- 
tion to your doctrines, and for God and humanity. 

You charge me with denying "the inspiration and 
divine authenticity of the Holy Scrip tures." I deny the 
charge. I admit their inspiration and their divine authen- 
ticity ; for all writings are inspired, and all "holy" writ- 
ings are divine. 

What is the Bible ? Did you ever ask your own con- 
scious spirit the question, and receive from its inner 
sanctuary, where no sectarian voice ever sounded, no 
doctrinal champion ever fought, an answer independent 
of the popular opinion, of church creeds and ecclesiasti- 
cal authority ? An answer which your reason willingly 
assented to, and which, without one single doubt or wish 
to amend, you would willingly bear with you through an 
eternity, subject to the gaze of a countless host of angels ? 
Did you ever look at the question as you should, — look 
at it with your reason, as God would have you look at 
all things ? Did you ever lay aside the thoughts of 
others, and think seriously whether every page, and 
chapter, and verse of the book, is worthy of the great 
Author to whom you ascribe them ? Did you ever com- 



12 



mence at Genesis and read on, asking your own reason — 
not asking whether this man believes it, or that man — 
but, as a matter concerning yourself, asking yourself 
whether God spake thus and thus ? 

The Bible ! In my infant ears a voice whispered, "It 
is God's holy word." Childhood came, and the words 
of the teacher, and the associations and incidents around 
me, fixed more firmly in my mind the idea told me so 
often in earlier days, "The Bible is holy ; it came direct 
from God to poor, sinful, degraded man." I looked on 
the volume with feelings of awe and reverence. "What ! ' ' 
thought I, " a book from God 1 It must be very holy," 
and in my soul I worshipped it. 

One day in seven the "sacred book" lay on the desk 
of a city church, and I wondered much at the thought- 
lessness displayed by all my superiors in its presence. 
It seemed a holy thing to me, and almost a god; for 
others besides myself worshipped it, and I thought strange 
that what some so much adored others treated with 
apparent neglect. 

I believed the whole Bible ; I believed, as tens of 
thousands do, not from any reasonable and just convic- 
tions of its truth, but because from the moment I could 
distinguish a sound I had been told it was God's word — 
I had never been allowed to doubt, never to examine 
with a view of coming to the truth, but always with a 
view of believing. I feared to be true to myself; to 
know in my own heart whether what I was so emphati- 
cally told was God's word was it, indeed, and nothing 
•else. I was told that the Bible was a perfect rule of 
faith and practice — the only revelation of God to man, 
and all I needed to conduct me safely and happily through 
this to a brighter world. And I believed it all. I be- 



13 



lieved because I was told to do so. Its mysteries con- 
founded me at times, and I accepted as God's holy truth 
many things, which, if I had found in any other book, I 
should have at once rejected, as unworthy man's belief — 
and so would any reasonable mind. But I found them in 
the Bible, and I was told I must not attempt to reconcile 
them with my ideas of truth, honor, and justice. There 
seemed to be here and there a contradiction, but I dare 
not question respecting it. I must believe. The com- 
mand was imperative ; and threatenings against unbelief 
were as severe as mind could conceive of. To my young 
spirit it seemed far preferable to believe anything rather 
than encounter a sea of living flame, from whose depths 
went up a requiem whose loudest notes were those of 
weeping, and wailing, and gnashing teeth ! 

Thus was I, thus are millions in this Christian land, 
taught to crush the reason within them, and bow humbly 
at the shrine of an unknown Deity! I would have 
been thought striving to become overwise, had I at- 
tempted so to establish my mind that I might be able to 
give a reason for the hope that was in me, — that I had 
in the Bible God's whole truth. 

Deep thought at times came upon me, and I said, 
"I am told that this book is a perfect rule of life, — a 
revelation so clear that all may read and understand. 
But there is much that I do not understand, and, what is 
very disheartening to me, I am told I must not try to 
understand." And then I thought, would the all- wise 
Creator make a revelation of truth to us, and introduce 
into that revelation much that is important for us to know, 
but which it is impossible for us to understand, — impos- 
sible for any of his ministers, said to be specially called 
by him to explain his word, to explain on grounds just 
2 



14 



and honorable, and in harmony with other portions of the 
same revelation ? Again, I thought, one man, who claims 
to have a divine commission to preach the Gospel to every 
creature, interprets the Bible in one way ; another, 
making the same claims, interprets it differently ; a third, 
likewise called of God, gives it another meaning ; and 
thus on and on, without number, different men, all 
making the same pretensions to divine authority, set forth 
as many different views of the truth as revealed in God's 
written word ; and so conclusively does each from the 
Bible prove his own view to be true, that he has a sect 
of his own, numbering thousands of members, no two 
of whom agree on every point of belief in their own 
creed of what the Bible teaches. 

But the Bible, I was told, is the " word of God " — 
the only chart to guide us over life's tempestuous sea to 
a haven of eternal rest. When I thought of that, and 
beheld a world of angry disputants standing over that 
chart and indulging in every contrary opinion as to the 
course it would have us pursue, I exclaimed, from my 
inmost soul, " Is this my only guide ? " 

But then the minister said so. Parents, brothers, sis- 
ters, friends, said so, — and they would not deceive me. 
Such a belief had supported them in hours of sorrow, 
and illuminated what then to me appeared the dark val- 
ley of death. So they said. Could I doubt them ? Ah, 
no ; I did not ! / wanted that support, that light, and 
I said I believed it all. 

I joined the church. I took upon me its creed ; and 
never shall I forget the thrill that entered every fibre of 
my being as I listened to the reading of the mysterious 
doctrines it set forth ; and the words, ' c Wherever you 
go these vows will be upon you ; hereafter you can 



15 



never withdraw," sounded in my ears like the creak- 
ing of a prison- door that closed on me forever, or the 
forging of fetters that would imprison my spirit. I in- 
deed felt the shackles of a creed on my mental organism ; 
and on my heart the chill of church walls. For a time 
I questioned not. I was the passive member of a human 
church ; the believer, without a satisfactory reason of the 
hope that was in me. 

Nor was mine a solitary case. Could you read the 
secret thoughts of those who gather at your seasons of 
communion, on many a heart's tablet of those who think 
and reason you would find written these deep meaning 
words, " What is Truth ? Alas, I cannot find it ! " You 
doubt what I say ; you think I judge harshly. Look 
within your own heart, and see whether those words are 
not written there in a restless desire for something holier 
and higher, and more like God, than anything you have 
yet found in your church or its belief. 

0, how, during all those years, Truth knocked at the 
door of my heart and asked for admittance ; and I 
shouted, " Away, Away ! I do not know you ! " And 
it was even so. I did not know his voice. I had listened 
for it long, and thought that when I heard it I should run 
and fall down and worship it. Now it came, and I refused 
to admit it. And yet I loved the stranger. There was 
something in his voice that seemed to blend sweetly with 
the voice of reason within me, and my soul went out 
through the barred and bolted door of my heart, and 
fraternized with Truth. 

In the quiet night, in the silent hour of meditation, 
my soul went forth to commune with the spirit of God. 
I found it in the dim old forest, in the blue sky above, in 
the earth beneath me. I heard it in every rustling leaf, 



16 



every warbler's carol, every rippling brook and flowing 
river ; and I found all love, all goodness, all perfectly 
adapted to the mental and physical wants of man. I 
beheld no mystery, no contradiction, no discord. Neither 
heard I among the sons of men any difference of opinion 
as to such a revelation. All was harmonious. The chap- 
ter written on the blue-tinted page above contained no 
word, on all its vast length and breadth, that conflicted 
with any on the equally broad page spread beneath. All 
this to me seemed a revelation that was indeed the 
"word of God " written with his hand, — a revelation 
which no human hand could deface, no human will 
change. 

While I considered these things, Truth knocked at the 
door of my heart with redoubled vigor ; and more dis- 
tinctly than ever I heard its calm, clear voice saying unto 
me, " Open, open, open ! " 

But dare I open my prison-house ? Dare I advance 
with those solemn oaths upon me, and the fearful words 
" never withdraw" standing out before my eyes, writ- 
ten in letters of living fire from the depths of an 
unquenchable furnace ? 

I ventured to raise the latch, but I dare not open the 
door. At length, the thought came to my mind — Per- 
haps my friends may themselves be deceived. I have 
accepted every page of the Bible as from God, mainly 
because they at first told me to do so, and not because I 
was fully, undoubtingly convinced in my heart of its 
truth. How could it be otherwise ? When a little child 
I was told so and so ; what power had / to know or judge 
of the matter ? 

The belief instilled into my mind at that age grew 
with my growth and strengthened with my strength. 



17 



Looking back to the time when I thus drank in the 
doctrines which I never could comprehend, I saw that I 
had taken them to please others, rather than in answer to 
the demands of my own spirit ; and now that I had 
grown to manhood I felt an inward rebellion against the 
unnatural sustenance that had been forced upon my soul, 
and, instead of increasing, had retarded its growth. I felt 
that God had given me reasoning powers and faculties, 
which, if exercised, would bring me to a knowledge of 
all truth ; that, unless I was to employ them, they would 
remain dormant, and I should live in disobedience to His 
will ; because the very fact that He gave me those facul- 
ties plainly shew that it was His will that I should use 
them. But I had not used them. I had taken what 
others told me as truth, without consulting my reason or 
employing my judgment ; and I felt now that it was in- 
.deed time that I awoke my mind from its inactivity, and, 
putting Keason as commander, and Judgment at the helm, 
might feel my bark advance over the ocean of Truth, and 
no longer allow it to be at the mercy of the ever-varying 
winds of popular opinion. To such a course my soul at 
once and heartily assented. But the church said " No." 
It would have me keep my sails furled, and my bark 
moored at its pier, waiting for the spiritual food to come, 
rather than to go forth and obtain it. 

But, thought I, what is this church that wishes to 
govern my reason, and hold all the powers of my mind in 
abeyance to its dictation? It is composed of men, — 
fallible men, like myself, — and is, therefore, as liable to 
err as I am. It holds as sacred truths certain writings and 
opinions, handed to it from past ages. It accepts them 
as such more on account of the supposed fact that man- 
kind has always done so, than from any real, fearless, un- 
2* 



18 



biased examination, each for himself, of their inherent 
claims. This train of thought led me to conclude that I 
would look at the foundation of my belief, and know, if 
possible, beyond a doubt, whether the Bible was, as a 
whole, good and true, or whether some portions of it 
were otherwise. I felt, deeply, that I had no end to gain 
but truth ; and the belief that could not bear a thorough 
examination was not worthy of my faith. 

I determined to be able to answer the question, " what 
is the Bible ? " from an actual examination of it. The 
church should not keep me back by its anathemas, nor 
my friends blind my eyes with their loving entreaties. 
How did I know that they were right ? I knew it was 
possible for them to be wrong ; and I was determined, 
cost what it might, to know what they and myself pro- 
fessed to believe. 

To answer the question I had proposed, I saw that my 
first step was to learn the history of the Bible, as a book ; 
next, the relation of one part to another, and lastly the 
general sentiment of the whole. The former could be 
ascertained from historical records ; the latter, from the 
book itself. I could see nothing wrong in the steps I 
was about to take ; on? the contrary, such a course seemed 
to be the duty of every honest mind, that would liye on 
an understanding faith, rather than on a blind and passive 
belief. But a year previous, I would not have dared to 
have taken such a step. In the change my mind had un- 
dergone, I saw the advance of a rational soul, weary of 
its pilgrimage in darkness and doubts, and struggling to 
come to the light, that it might walk therein. A soul, dis- 
satisfied with man's theory of God's government, seeking 
a better and a truer one, from a higher and more reliable 
source. 



19 



Think not that I began my investigations rashly or 
with a factious spirit, determined upon having my own 
way ; for I had no way, — I was seeking one. I came to 
the task with earnest prayer to God for help. I ap- 
proached it, while through my mind flitted memories of 
those days when I implicitly relied upon those who told 
me that the Bible, from Genesis to Kevelations, was the 
holy word of God. But duty, stern, unrelenting duty, 
urged me on. Duty to my own immortal soul ; duty to 
those around me ; duty to my God. 

It was with such feelings I began ; and, if there was 
any wish in my mind that was uppermost, it was that I 
might find the book, as a whole, perfect, harmonious, and 
satisfying to my hungering, thirsting spirit. 

I cannot, in the brief limits of these pages, lay before 
you in detail the result of my investigations, but hope to 
do so at some future time. I can only remark here, that I 
found certain writings, said to be sacred, believed to be so. 
I found them, not, as we should suppose the only guide 
for man in all ages of the world would be found, so en- 
graven as to be perpetuated as long as mankind existed, 
— but written on perishable wood and leaves, buried 
in the earth at times in earthen vessels. Was it thus 
that your God and my God was to speak to you and me? 
Did He write his words to us, all the words we should ever 
receive, — without which we should live in / utter dark- 
ness, and lose an eternity of blessedness, — on such mate- 
rials, thousands of years ago ? Think you God has no 
better means of revelation ? Think you that, if God had 
intended the Bible as man's only guide to immortal life, — 
if He had known that, without a knowledge of its contents, 
his earthly children, made in His own image (spiritually) 
and possessing a portion of His own divine nature, would be 



20 



forever miserable, — He would not by the exercise of His 
omnipotent power have devised some means by which to 
have made it universally known*? Think you there would 
have existed one immortal being on earth, living ignorant 
of that only word of God ; or been denied, by the inter- 
vention of any circumstance or condition, an opportunity 
of being saved by a belief in it ? 

Now, what is the fact ? One thousand million human 
beings people the earth, each thirty years ; and I make a 
large estimate when I say that of this vast number only 
one-tenth ever hear of the Bible, and that of these less 
than one-fourth believe it to be necessary for their hap- 
piness, so far as to embrace it as a means of salvation. 
Thus you see that, every thirty years, nine hundred mil- 
lion immortal souls are created by God, with a fore -knowl- 
edge on His part that they will be consigned to endless 
torment ! And for what ? Because they do not read a 
book which it is impossible for them to obtain ; and do not 
believe in Christ, of whom they never could hear. 

I also learned that more Gospels, Epistles, and other 
writings held sacred, trusted in as God's word, were de- 
stroyed by superstitious, bigoted men, that nothing might 
exist inculcating views differing from their own, than 
now exist in any form. And I asked myself, Did God 
write messages to me, — draw out charts by which I 
should be guided, and without which I might make ship- 
wreck of my faith, — and allow his communications to be 
subject to the passionate decisions of councils founded on 
ecclesiastical hates, and enveloped in a thick cloud of 
ignorance ? My reason answered, No ! Truth, looking 
in at my half-opened door, declared, with emphatic voice, 
that it was not so. 

I wondered what all those banished books contained. 



21 



Perhaps, much that would throw light on what remained. 
How did I know but that, in that ignorant age, that which 
was the most pure and spiritual was the first to meet the 
flames ; and that which gave the truest views of God, 
of Christ and his doctrines, and of man and his destiny, 
were malignantly destroyed ? Judging from what I knew 
of the past, it was reasonable to suppose that such was 
the fact. I knew that all elevated truths, all newly- dis- 
covered facts in art and science, had been illy treated. I 
knew that, had the power existed that was dominant in 
the early ages of the church, Printing, Astronomy, Ge- 
ology, Phrenology, and many other valuable truths, would 
have been strangled at their birth. 

Who knows but that a Faust or a Galileo, a Spurzheim 
or a Mesmer, did perish — his books burned, and death 
declared against any one who breathed an utterance of 
the newly- discovered truth ? 

I next beheld what little was left of the sacred writings 
borne through a variety of vicissitudes : now losing a por- 
tion, now having a portion added ; now interpreted in this 
sense, now in that ; now pruned to suit the doctrines of 
a council, now revised to please a king ; until I reached 
the present time, and I behold it worshipped by some 
almost as a God, respected by others from a half-con- 
ceived idea of its sacred character, while six hundred 
millions of human beings do not know there is such a hook 
in existence. And I look abroad and see the Persians 
consulting their " Zendavesta," the Mohammedans their 
" Koran," and the Brahmins their 'Chaster," as sacred 
books. And as I see the various contradictory views, 
the various oracles and books called sacred, I turn my 
inquiring voice within my soul, and ask whether God has 
not made a revelation of truth in something broader than 



22 



any book, more enduring than parchment, and adapted to 
all the nations of men that dwell on the face of the earth, 
— a revelation written in one language which all can un- 
derstand, — a revelation which human hands can never 
alter or destroy. And I hear a strong voice within 
answering me " yes." 

God has not been without a witness in every nation 
and in every age. He has revealed Himself to all man- 
kind. Inspiration, instead of being confined to one peo- 
ple and one time, has been the great gift from God to man 
at all periods of his history ; and not only to man, but to 
all living things, for all live unto Him. "What teaches 
the flower to blossom, the bird to sing, and the beast of 
the field its varied employments ? What, but this ever- 
descending lesson of inspiration, flowing from God 
through all the many grades of existence, till it reaches, 
in its blessed ministrations, the lowest form of being ? 
Our Father has not been a God afar off, but has been 
nigh, very nigh, to every one of His children. Instead 
of speaking through one book alone, subject to every 
adulterating circumstance of life, human doctrines, cre- 
dulity and superstition, He has spoken through every- 
thing in nature ; through the leaf and the river, 
through sunshine and through storm ; in the gentle breeze 
and in the wind ; and, more than all, and more direct 
than through all else, he has spoken through ministering 
spirits to man's soul ; and in the quiet hour of seclusion, 
when no one was visibly present, a gentle voice from 
heaven whispered to man, and told him of immortality, 
eternal joy, and a loving God. 

Spirit messengers have borne to every kindred the 
news of a better world, and brought the glad tidings of 
peace on earth, good will to man, to all the human race. 



23 



Down in the midst of those people, who never heard of 
the revelation you claim as the only one from God, angelic 
messengers have descended, and planted in the soil of 
human thought seed that shall spring up to life eternal, 
and bear the enduring fruit of joys immortal. 

There have "been prophets among all people, apostles 
among all nations ; and truth, that great foundation-stone 
of all realities, that balance-wheel of all just governments, 
has found its unshrinking advocates in every age and in 
every place. 

The revelations of God have been, and are, as various 
as the nations He has created, and the ages in which they 
have existed. They have often been misinterpreted, and 
have partaken, in some degree, of the prevalent opinions 
of mankind at the time. At the time the revelations 
were made to the Jewish people, that nation was the 
most influential on earth ; and, as might be expected, 
the idea they had of their own importance, and supposi- 
tion that they were regarded with special favor by the 
Almighty, led them to believe and declare that the reve- 
lation they received was the only one that God ever had, 
or ever would make to man. It was this spirit of exclu- 
siveness, self-importance and ambition to rule, that led 
them to crush the Gentiles ; to destroy, with a savage 
ferocity, entire nations who were not of their own faith, 
prefacing all their declarations with these words, " Thus 
saith the Lord;" and induced them to publish certain 
revelations from the spirit- world, mingled, as their great 
truths were, with their own half- civilized ideas of justice 
to man, as the only chart to guide the entire world in 
their own and all future times. 

As man advanced from his semi-barbarous state, and 
the warring spirit became for a time extinct, so that peace 



24 



reigr\ed over all the earth, other revelations were recorded 
as a New Testament of divine truth. In these higher, 
holier, and purer records, none of the spirit of revenge, 
hatred and scorn, was to he seen ; and the views promul- 
gated, though containing some, were far less impregnated 
with human thoughts and desires. Old doctrines, gath- 
ered from the mythological beliefs of the past, remnants 
of barbarous systems of religion and government, and 
lingering shadows of a superstitious age, were seen even 
in this later era of spirit- communication, or revelations 
from God through the various degrees of spirit-life. 

This new era of revelation was necessary, for man had 
advanced in knowledge, and his condition required an 
advanced state of education. The human race had passed 
through its elementary course of instruction ; its primary 
lesson had been conned over ; and now, turning from war 
and the indulgence of gross human passions, it aspired to 
a higher development of manhood. 

Through Moses a revelation was given adapted to the 
wants of the people then existing on earth ; and it re- 
quires no great degree of discernment to perceive that 
what was suited to the condition of mankind then, in their 
primitive state, would be but illy suited to mankind in 
all future times. A new dispensation was, therefore, 
unfolded through Christ ; and the same rule applies to this 
as to the former case, and what was given in his clay was 
not intended, as a whole, for all people in all coming ages 
of the world. Many of those teachings, however, were 
far in advance of his times ; and, therefore, the people, 
in their ignorance, reviled and crucified him. Yet it was 
through ignorance alone, and not through sin. With his 
far-reaching mind, he could perceive "this, and prayed for 
their forgiveness. What a deep tide of love and knowl- 



25 



edge the world kept back by its bigotry and its ignorance, I 
know not. I can surmise somewhat of its fathomless worth, 
when I consider for a moment the truths he revealed, 
and his declaration that, after all the glorious revelations 
he had made, he had many things to say unto his disci- 
ples, which even they, his most intimate friends and most 
reliable followers, were not able to receive. 

Christ preached, in some cases, doctrines directly op- 
posed to the doctrines taught by Moses, and on this 
account bitter feelings were created against him in the 
minds of the people. The Old Testament was then the 
Bible. They had no other, and the religious world looked 
upon it as a sacred book, which it was blasphemy to doubt. 
When Christ came and said, your Bible says thus and 
thus, but I say unto you do directly the reverse, the 
people became excited. They said he was from the devil, 
and took up stones wherewith to stone him ; drove him 
from their midst, and he became, as thousands of his 
followers in the path of reform have been and are even 
in this our day, in the eyes of many, nothing but an 
infidel, turning the world upside down ; a heretic, a blas- 
phemer, and a despiser of all things good. 

It is admitted that there were inspired men in olden 
times ; but you deny that there are any now, or that there 
have been any at any period since. What is the authority 
for such a denial ? Has God ever told man that the vol- 
ume of His revelation has been closed, and that never 
again shall his voice be heard ? Ye worshippers of what 
you deem the only book of life, can you point out to me 
the passage which tells us of such a finale to the teach- 
ings of God ? 

When Christ came, the Jews had their " only book of 
life," and they said, Revelation is closed. God speaks 
3 



26 



no more to man. Was it true ? It was not. Christ spake 
as never man before him spake ; and truths came purer, 
and holier, and brighter, than the heart of man had ever 
conceived. In this, our day, the church shuts down the 
windows of heaven, and says to the people, " Revelation 
is closed. God speaks no more to man." It says to 
them, " Take what your fathers had, and seek for no new 
revelation. What was adapted to their wants is suited 
to yours." It tells man that what was suitable for the 
human race in its infancy is suitable for it in its manhood 
— not for a moment consulting reason, which proclaims 
the ever- enduring truth, that, as conditions change, so must 
that change which will serve to satisfy human wants. 
Were the church infallible, we might be tempted to listen 
to its commands. But what is this church — what this 
darling institution, which you believe to be the object of 
God's special care 1 It is composed of discordant ele- 
ments — of men who have so little regard for the golden 
rule that they hesitate not to speak embittering words 
against each other on the slightest provocation ; raising 
up points for idle dispute, upon the most trivial questions ; 
and, according to its creed, leaving souls to perish, while 
disputing with itself upon forms and ceremonies, and 
battling for popular teachers and high- cost temples. This 
is the "church" that would manacle thought and stay 
the car of Progress. This, the creature of man's crea- 
tion, that would be my guide, open and shut the gates 
of God's eternal temple, and ask me to bow to its author- 
ity before I might enter therein. This four-walled tab- 
ernacle is set up as the ark of safety, in which, amid its 
jarring strifes, its loud contentions, and its whirlwind of 
discordant doctrines, I am told my soul shall find rest ! 
Believe me, this is not of God — not that which He 



27 



hath blessed. His church is as broad as His limitless 
universe. It hath foundations lying deeper than human 
plummet ever reached ; a dome higher than man's most 
aspiring thought, and its creed is as true and changeless 
as the great I Am. Such is the church of God — such 
the offspring of the creative Mind of all creations. 0, 
brethren, behold the church of God, which His own right 
hand hath planted ; then, cast one single glance upon your 
own superstitions, your errors and your wanderings in the 
shades you have loved so well and so long ; repent and 
turn to Him, and He will in no wise cast thee out. 

God reveals himself to you every day. His revela- 
tions are adapted to your wants. He asks you not to 
feed your hungered souls on that which was provided for 
another people, in another age ; but, fresh as the air you 
breathe, comes from the courts of heaven his divine truth 
to the waiting spirit of man. 

Take the boon so freely offered. Read the lessons of 
God in every manifestation of Himself in His works around 
you. Above and around are myriad spirits waiting for 
you to open your mind to the truths they have learned 
amid the shining' ranks of the blessed. Be passive — 
listen to their gentle teachings, and within your inmost 
soul you shall know that God's revelations are not ex- 
hausted, but that to the willing in heart, to the earnest 
seeker after truth, he speaks unceasingly, and breathes 
on them the benisons of a Father's love. 

But, ah! it is creed that keeps you where you are. It 
is creed that will not allow you to advance. Creed is the 
great lion in man's pathway, roaring, with a loud voice, 
thus far shalt thou go and no farther, and here shall thy 
knowledge be stayed. And man has obeyed the voice 
of this creed, though strongly against his innate ideas of 



28 



duty and privilege. For rny own part, I consider the 
popular church idea of a creed as detrimental to all of 
man's best interests here and hereafter. The idea of con 
fining within the limits of human words a view. of God 
and his works, is an erroneous one. This chaining up the 
aspirations of the, soul to some mile-stone on the road of 
endless progression, makes the soul dwarfish, and all its 
faculties cramped and earthly. Such a course is neither 
just to God, who is ever calling us up, nor to man, whose 
divinity within stretches forth its arms to the divinity 
without, and seeks to know more of God, His works and 
His government. 

And again ; should a creed adapt itself to the truth, 
or should truth adapt itself to the creed ? Should newly - 
discovered truths be rejected because they do not con- 
form to the articles of belief which we have signed, or 
should we change our creed to meet their requirements ? 
It is a simple question, and one which a child might 
answer. But the church will not. Wise doctors, eloquent 
teachers, and learned schoolmen, will not. And why ? 
Because they long since adopted certain views ; they 
long ago formed fixed opinions, all sworn to, signed, sealed 
and delivered to the keepers of their consciences, and 
the salaried guardians of their minds ; and they cherish 
them most sacredly, bow down and worship them, and 
work themselves into a firm conviction that all things in 
heaven and earth must do the same. 

Change the creed ! It is impossible. Heaven and 
earth may pass, but this parchment of limitation to man's 
aspirations shall remain forever untouched. 

Look to the past. See every new development of 
truth battling with creeds. Jesus and his disciples before 
the infuriated populace, waging a determined warfare 



29 



against the creeds of the old Jewish church. Astronomy, 
gazing up into the broad expanse, saw new and sublime 
truths. It declared them, and what was the result ? Lo ! 
an army of zealous churchmen looked at their darling 
creeds, and, finding that the newly- discovered truths con- 
flicted with their ideas of infallible wisdom, turned upon 
the defenceless discoverer and denounced him, pouring 
upon him the severest anathemas in this world, and call- 
ing down upon him curses in the world to come. Did I 
say defenceless ? He was not defenceless. He was 
clothed with the armor of truth. He battled with the 
foe in the strength of right ; and, though the world sharp- 
ened its instruments of torture, and the prison-house of 
his soul was laid low, yet he lived and triumphed through 
other minds, upon whom, as a ministering spirit, he acted 
with mighty power. 

Galileo's soul walked out in the broad fields of truth, 
and his eye caught a glimpse of something new for the 
treasure-house of his mind. He garnered it in. The 
world saw him ; the watchful eyes of the protectors of 
the creed saw him, and forthwith he was dragged out 
and thrust into halls of inquisitorial torture. He was 
told that his priceless gem was worthless in comparison 
with their creed ; and he was commanded to deny its 
worth, throw it to the winds, and embrace with loving 
heart the endangered creed. And Galileo quailed before 
that host of embittered enemies, and his better nature 
trembled and grew abashed for the time. His lips for- 
swore the truth, but his soul did not ; and, as before that 
tyrannizing council he denied his faith, he bit his lips in 
an agony of mind, and tried to keep his struggling soul 
within, but he could not. His lips parted, and his soul 
3* 



30 



sent out its. earnest declaration in those memorable words, 
"It does move, nevertheless/ ' 

After many such struggles of truth with creed, what 
became of creed ? Why, the creed that would not stir 
an inch moved a mile ; and I find that creed, to-day, 
after rising in direct opposition to all known truths at 
their first development, adapted to those truths, and even 
resting on them as pillars of support. New discoveries 
of truth are constantly being made, and as often the 
battle opens anew. Creed, changed somewhat in form, 
is yet the same conservative block under the wheels of 
the car of progression. It is the same obstacle in the 
way of human advancement.* 

Verily, the children of the world, so called, are wiser 
than the children of light. Ask the merchant to sub- 
scribe to certain articles by which he shall always be 
governed, and the knowledge contained in which he shall 

* " There is nothing imaginary in the statement that Creed-Power is now begin- 
ning to prohibit the Bible as really as Rome did, though in a subtler way. 
During the whole course of seven years' study, the Protestant candidate for the 
ministry sees before him an unauthorized statement, spiked down and stereotyped, 
of what he must find in the Bible, or be martyred. And does any one, acquainted 
with human nature, need be told that he studies under a tremendous pressure of 
motive ? Is that freedom of opinion ? — ' the liberty wherewith Christ maketh 
free ' ? Rome would have given that. Every one of her clergy might have 
studied the Bible to find there the Pontifical creed on pain of death. Was that 
liberty ? 

" Hence I say that liberty of opinion, in our theological seminaries, is a mere 
form. To say nothing of the thumb-screw of criticism, by which every original 
mind is tortured into negative propriety, the whole boasted liberty of the student 
consists in a choice of chains — a choice of handcuffs — whether he will wear the 
Presbyterian handcuff, or the Methodist, Baptist, Episcopal or other evangelical 
handcuff. Hence it has secretly come to pass that the ministry themselves dare 
not study their Bibles. Large portions thereof are seldom touched. It lies use- 
less lumber ; or, if they do study and search, they dare not show the people what 
they find there. There is something criminal in saying anything new. It is 
shocking to utter words that have not the mould of age upon them." — Rev. Chas. 
Beecher's Discourse at the dedication of the Second Presbyterian Church at 
Fort Wayne, Ind., 1846. 



31 



never transcend. Ask the mechanic to limit his inventive 
genius, and to plod on as he does now, without making a 
single effort to improve. Ask the professional man to 
limit his knowledge within those bounds which he cannot 
now pass. From each of the interrogated the response 
will be, "I will do no such thing. As I live I will 
learn ; for to-morrow may bring to my view a truth that 
I do not discern to-day, and I will be free that I may 
accept it." 

Such would be the reply to a proposition " to manacle 
the progressive spirit of mercantile, mechanical, and pro- 
gressive enterprise ; and think you the Christian, with a 
far broader ocean of truth before him, should be content 
in gathering the pebbles on the shore, and, when an oppor- 
tunity is presented for him to make an advance over that 
ocean, turn his back upon its sparkling tide, and say, " I 
cannot. I have made a solemn oath to remain where I 
am, and I will not take one single step forward/' 

Such is the answer of the popular church. The church 
is inactive.* It is the last in every great reform. As it 

* " To the shame of the church, it must be confessed that the foremost men in 
all our philanthropic movements, in the interpretation of the spirit of the age ; 
in the practical application of genuine Christianity ; in the reformation of abuses 
in high and in low places ; in the vindication of the rights of man ; and in 
practically redressing his wrongs, in the moral and intellectual regeneration of 
the race, are the so-called infidels (?) in our land. The church has pusillani- 
mously left not only the working-oar, but the very reins of salutary reform, in the 
hands of men she denounces as inimical to Christianity, and who are practically 
doing with all their might, for humanity's sake, that which the church ought to 
be doing for Christ's sake ; and if they succeed, as succeed they will, in abolishing 
slavery, banishing rum, restraining licentiousness, reforming abuses and elevat- 
ing the masses, then the recoil upon Christianity will be disastrous in the extreme. 
Woe, woe, woe to Christianity, when infidels, (?) by force of nature, or the tend- 
ency of the age, get ahead of the church in morals ; and in the practical work 
of Christianity, in some instances, they are already far, far in advance ; in the 
vindication of truth, righteousness and liberty, they are the pioneers, beckoning 
to a sluggish church to follow." — New York Evangelist. 



32 



beholds the temple of Truth it will not enter therein 
itself, and those who would enter it hinders. 

It is on account of an honest investigation — a desire not 
to build up any creed, or to destroy any, but with a consci- 
entious regard for truth — that I am led to the inevitable 
conclusion that the Bible contains much that is good, and 
pure, and from God ; and, at the same time, much that is 
the reverse. In thus rejecting certain portions of the book 
as unworthy of God, I do no more than many of the 
fathers of the church have done. I follow the example 
of those whom the Christian world considers the pillars of 
its temple. And, if they had lived in this age, they 
would have rejected as divine the same portions as all 
thinking men now do. With the light that now dawns 
upon the world, they would not have .consented to calling 
inconsistencies God's truth, or anger, revenge, murder or 
cruelty, expressive of His character. But their ideas in 
that age were crude and unrefined. They thought God 
such a one as themselves. If they, in that dark era of 
the world's history, had the right to say what should be 
accepted as God's word, — if they could compile, from 
what was considered " sacred," a Bible to suit their ideas 
of God and humanity, — have not we an equal right ? Are 
not men now further advanced in morality, art and 
science, and, therefore, better able to judge of divine 
truth, than they ? And shall we not do so ? Honesty 
would commend such an undertaking ; but blind credulity, 
bigoted fanaticism and ignorance, would exclaim with 
feelings of horror at the idea of such a step. 

1 do not reject those portions of the Bible which the 
reason* and common sense of any unprejudiced mind 

* " The demand of intellect and reason must be met, in order to satisfy a reason- 
able being."— Professor Stuart. 



33 



would recognize as truth, and consequently God's word, 
wherever found. I love the humane, heavenly and 
sublime teachings of Jesus, who died on Calvary, 
rather than retreat from the position he had assumed, 
and so gloriously maintained. He fought against the 
same teachings which I would bring forward to con- 
vince you that all within the Bible is not the word of 
God. 

Read his Sermon on the Mount, and compare it with 
the Old Testament, and even with some parts of the 
New, and you will see how often he declares his dis- 
belief in the sentiments therein inculcated, and teaches 
the opposite ; * and the probability is, that had not 
those bigoted men who trimmed up the reputed sacred 
writings to suit their own views - existed ; or, had they 
been generous enough to allow the whole history of 
the life and acts of Christ to come to us, and not have 
committed it to the flames, we should have had much 
more from him in opposition to the teachings of some 
parts of the Old Testament. 

But, in the age of the world in which those councils 
met, the teachings of the old Jewish writers- were 
more acceptable than the pure, heaven-born words of 
Jesus. 

Truly was it that " he spake as never man spake," and 
told his disciples many things which their dull, earthly 
natures could not understand ; and had many more- 
things to say unto them, but they could not bear them 
then. 

In that most disastrous conflagration kindled by the 
superstitious Constantine and his exasperated bishops, 

* Matthew 5: 21, 27, 31,33. 



34 



much that would have shed light on our pathway was 
consumed. As its curling flames ascended, the grand 
crowning act of the crucifixion of Christ was consum- 
mated. The priests and the rulers of the people had a 
few centuries previous murdered him, but yet his words 
dwelt on earth, marking a long line of glorious light amid 
the darkness that surrounded his path. The few humble 
Christians, whose names had never been emblazoned on 
parchment-scrolls, had doubtless treasured up as sacred 
books, — as sacred as Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, — 
a full and faithful account of the Saviour's words and 
works, — too faithful, indeed, to harmonize with their 
Jewish scriptures of Moses and the prophets ; too faith- 
ful to suit the superstitious emperor, the tyrannical king, 
the ambitious officials in church and state, — and what 
should be done ? Why, destroy them ! Burn up all 
that speaks unfavorably of those older scriptures ; con- 
vince the people that Moses and the prophets speak 
nothing but God's words. Teach lisping infancy, trust- 
ing childhood, and sanguine youth, that war is right, 
slavery is right, murder is right. Let the character 
of God, as idolized by barbarous nations in an unde- 
veloped state of humanity, be acknowledged as true. 
But there was a loud voice calling for the more humane 
teachings of later times ; and there was a voice within 
that would not be wholly silenced. To answer it, the 
council admitted as genuine a few gospels and epistles. 
The rest were consigned to the flames. Well might 
angels weep when Christ died beneath the hands of per- 
secutors, and all the efforts to introduce to mankind the 
true character of God seemed failing. But, even after 
that, there was hope that his holy and humane teachings, 
recorded in books by those who loved him so deeply as to 



worship him, might prove seed that would spring up to 
life eternal, and bear the fruit of joy immortal. But 
now that those books were consigned to destruction, now 
that death was the fate of him who dared to speak of 
them, where should angelic hope rest ? . 

Angel eyes, piercing the future, could see centuries 
of dark and gloomy clouds, — could see mankind tor- 
tured with doubts ; mankind, with unjust views of God 
and his works, — and they wept. 0, tell me not that 
angels cannot weep ! An intelligent being that would 
not weep at such a result, at such a prospect, must be 
less than human, — far, very far below an angel. 

And what they prophetically beheld has taken place ; 
and mankind is now emerging from the deep and chilling 
shadows of that cloud which covered all the earth. 

You believe the whole Bible to be the word of God ; 
I do not ! Wherein do w r e differ ? I am willing to rest 
the question upon the great heart of humanity, and abide 
the answer. 

You believe that God repents of His acts. 1 You be- 
lieve He deceives the people. 2 You believe that He 
destroyed seventy thousand innocent men for the sin of 
one man. 3 You believe that He had a special people, 4 
whom He assisted to drive from the face of the earth all 
other nations. 5 You believe He instituted slavery, 6 and 
the selling of human beings. 7 You believe He coun- 
tenanced licentious practices. 8 You believe that He sent 



1 Gen. 6 : 6 ; 2 Sam. 24 : 16. 


5 Deut. 7. 


2 2 Thess. 2 : 11, 12 ; Ezekiel 14 : 9. 


6 Leviticus 25 : 1,46. 


3 2 Samuel 24.* 


7 Leviticus 25 : 1, 44. 


4 Deut. 7 : 6. 


8 2 Sam. 12 : 11. 



* " The principles of honor and right demand of God not so to charge the wrong conduct of one 
being to others as to punish one person for the conduct of another. * * No personal honor, 
no exaltation, no amount of enjoyment, would bribe a truly honorable mind to be satisfied with a 



36 



floods, 9 and famine, 10 and pestilence, 11 for the special 
purpose of injuring mankind. And you believe that He 
is subject to jealousy, 12 anger, 13 revenge, 14 and at times 
merciless, 15 inciting His creatures 16 to destroy each 
other. 

In none of these things do /believe. And I deeply, 
heartily feel thankful to God for the light that has opened 
my eyes to the truth. I thank Him for the reason 
within me that revolts against such ideas of the Holy 
One, who ruleth the boundless universe, and displays His 
love and goodness alike in the blade of grass and in 
countless worlds that revolve in infinite space. I thank 
God that I can see Him as He reveals Himself, not in one 
book, subject to council decrees and flames of man's 
kindling, but in that broader book, which no hand can 
alter, whose records are always true, always instructive 
and indestructible — the Book of Nature. Study that, 
and you will find no contradictions. Study that to learn 
wisdom which passeth human understanding. Study that 
to learn the one great law that governs atoms and 
worlds, — yourself included in the broad inventory. In 
that you will find God's true character. Read it ; read 
it as it is written on the sunbeam falling impartially on 
all ! On the budding flower ; on the sparkling stream ; 
on earth ; on sky ! 

0, man, — man with a Mind ! with a Reason ! Man 
tmade in the image of God, and destined to advance 
towards His perfection, — use that Mind, exercise that 

9 Gen. 6 : 17. 13 Deut. 32 : 22, 25. 

10 Psa. 105 : 16. H Deut 32 : 39, 41. 

11 2 Sam. 24 : 15. 15 Isa. 27 : 11. 

12 Deut. 29 : 20. 16 1 Sam. 15 : 2, 3. 

God who (even for his sake) had disregarded the principles of honor to any one, even the least 
of all created minds." — Edward Beecher. 



37 



Reason, honor that image, that you may not be retarded 
in your progress ! 

Look, I beseech of you, brethren, honestly at this sub- 
ject ! Look at it in its true light, not in the false glare 
which sectarianism throws around it. Throw aside the 
bandages from your eyes, and loosen the fetters that 
shackle your reason ! Be men ! 0, forget not your 
nature ! Sell not for old opinions, or old dogmas, of far 
less worth than Esau's mess of pottage, your glorious 
birthright ! Deep, deep within your soul is that light 
that lighteth every man that cometh into the world. It 
is the spirit of God, the intuitive truth, thine own 
reason, given thee by thy Creator. Let no idle wind dis- 
turb it, but let it glow. It is gently fanned by angel- 
breath ; and tenderly is it watched and cherished by 
angel-hands. 

Believe me, it is not that I am opposed to truth that I 
am led to speak as I have of the Bible, but because I 
have loved truth. Yea, I want, you want, we all want 
truth ; and he who would find it must not expect to find it 
as he may have been taught, but as it is. 

I cannof allow the present occasion to pass without 
alluding to and urging upon your candid consideration 
the great truth of the eternal progression of all created 
things. It is written indelibly upon every atom of the 
universe. Nature proclaims it in each of her countless 
forms of operation ; and revelation, as it is manifested 
in the word of God, repeats the truth. Eternal progres- 
sion ! who can conceive of its limitless course, or count 
the distance already passed ? Think of unending ad- 
vancement ! To what untold heights of knowledge and 
blessedness the soul will have attained ere the path is but 
begun ! 

4 



38 



This law is so plainly written on everything we can 
see, hear or feel, that it is indeed a wonder that any 
mind can, for a single moment, doubt it. Strange that 
any should conclude that God, in any of his works or 
ways, goes backward, or that the mighty wheels of the 
stupendous creation retrograde ! The mind that finds 
rest on such a conclusion can have no just conception 
of the Creator, but makes that infinite being a finite 
creature like itself, subject to those little inconsistencies 
of action to-day which must be rectified to-morrow. To 
say that God's works do not advance, is to doubt his wis- 
dom to plan, and his power to execute ; for such a con- 
dition implies that the governing principle is inefficient to 
carry out its design in the creation. 

For my own part, I cannot conceive of any such idea 
as retrogression in God's works. The very thought is 
repulsive. Eeason rebels against such a view of its 
Father's government, and wars against it in every un- 
prejudiced mind. Time moves on, and with it bears the 
universe with its myriad worlds, its countless grades of 
being ; and, in spite of his opinion, man himself — every 
man. There is no elect ; no favored few ; no chosen 
people, but all, every one, is marching onward to more 
glorious temples of truth, and to more ennobling views of 
God. 

The very fact that time moves forward — that to-day 
is in advance of yesterday — that trees grow, that the 
river flows on, that everything we can see or hear pro- 
gresses, should lead every thoughtful mind to the inquiry, 
"Is is possible that anything can go back?" To deny 
the law of progression is to deny our own reason, and the 
marked operations of all things about us. Every intui- 
tion of our soul says, " Go on" Every motive that 



39 



influences us urges us to advance ; and, though some 
will not as readily as others obey the divine command, 
yet it is imperative, and all will eventually perceive that 
they are subject to it as an inevitable law of their being. 

Those conditions which, to our limited vision, appear 
to denote a backward tendency, are but incidental, and 
have no permanency. Certain events may produce those 
conditions, and ' they may retard the soul in its course ; 
but those obstacles will inevitably be overcome, and the 
man go onward. 

All created things speak to us this great lesson, — 
Progression. The seed planted in the ground progresses 
through various phases of condition until it becomes fruit ; 
and, stopping not there, is eaten and becomes a part of 
the animal body. Could we trace it through its further 
advancements, we should see how the law of progression 
leads it along unceasingly forever. The drop of water 
quivers in the sunbeam, mingles with the cloud, falls to 
the earth, bathes the opening rose, trickles through the 
ground, nestles in some hidden cell far below the surface, 
and, at some future time, emerges into light in a new 
form of beauty. But it stops not there. God has marked 
on its tiny surface the living word progression, and it 
unhesitatingly obeys his decree. And thus it is with all 
the works of God. The great procession moves on — 
marching onward and upward to higher states of existence, 

How long, think you, matter and mind marched hand 
in hand before it reached that -position described by Moses 
as its first condition ? Our minds cannot comprehend the 
length of that journey, or the ages multiplied by ages that 
numbered the years of their pilgrimage. To suppose that 
man was created in one day or six days, six years or six 
thousand years, is to suppose God to have acted contrary 



40 



to those laws which He has established for the government 
of His works, and in accordance with the requirements 
of which all things else were created. He makes the 
blade of grass by these laws, and the drops of water are 
the work of a long period of time ; but man, the highest 
perfection of his earthly works, — man, the receptacle of 
divinity, he who is the nearest approach on earth to God 
in heaven, — you are told, was created at once, without 
being subject to that law which governs atoms and 
planets. Such a thought is preposterous to a reasoning 
mind. It leads it to realize the truth that God's great 
book of Nature is more reliable than any book, of what- 
ever name, which man looks upon as sacred. No matter 
who wrote the book you hold in your hand ; no matter 
what supposed claims it has upon your belief, or who 
declares it to be a volume of sacred truth ; if Nature has 
one truth that is at variance with its declarations, teaches 
one lesson which that book opposes, believe Nature, and 
you cannot err. If a book should tell you that the rain- 
bow never existed until a certain time, and that then it was 
created for a special purpose, and Nature teaches you 
that from the moment that sunlight and water existed 
that arch of beauty has also existed, when those elements 
have been in corresponding relations to each other, 
believe Nature. Should a book tell you that man was 
made in a day — in an instant, — that all the wonderful 
mechanism of his body was formed at once, independent 
of all known laws, and contrary to every teaching of 
Nature, — believe it not. Place your confidence in God, 
as He reveals Himself in His works, rather than in any 
book which man tells you is His truth. 

Trust your own reason, which God has given you 
whereby to judge of all matters, rather than the theories 



41 



of man, and those declarations which he conceives to be 
eternal truths, but which may be, nevertheless, time- 
worn errors. 

The orthodoxy of one age has been the infidelity of 
that which preceded it. And in this is seen the working 
of that Jaw which governs all, and leads all into the ranks 
of the army whose head is God, marching on and through 
the eternal country ; for, progressing from the errors and 
misconceptions of the past, the human mind makes an 
advance towards truth ; and though, in that advanced 
state, it has not reached its goal, yet it is in closer prox- 
imity to it. 

That man has progressed I have briefly endeavored to 
prove from the records of the Bible, and have shown that, 
as his condition improved, new revelations have been 
made from the spirit-world, leading him on as rapidly as 
he was prepared to advance. As it would be useless to 
attempt to teach a child astute science who could scarcely 
comprehend the use of the alphabet, so it would be worse 
than in vain to reveal to mankind the nature, require- 
ments, and joys of the spirit-world in those past ages, 
when he had made but a slight advance towards the 
attainment of a knowledge of his earthly condition, and 
the nature, requirements and joys, of this. This accounts 
for the little information we have of the future state in 
the Bible. 

The human race may be compared to human life. Ifr 

has had its infancy, its childhood, its youth, and it is now 

on the eve of its manhood. Its destiny is to. progress, 

and it will. Looking at the mental condition of mankind 

now, — comparing it with that of all previous times, in its 

scientific and moral relations, — no reasonable mind will 

deny that it is far in advance of all previous conditions. 
4# 



42 



Behold how knowledge is increased. Books are plen- 
tiful, and easily obtained. A few pennies will purchase 
more than the library of many a scholar of olden times 
contained, and the child that cannot tell their use has 
books which philosophers and orators and poets of an- 
cient times would have given fortunes to possess, — hold- 
ing them in trust for the use of their minds, when, older 
grown, jiiey can understandingly receive the knowledge 
they will freely impart. Lectures on all subjects are 
heard in every town and village, and the noblest minds 
of earth address vast audiences of the people on matters 
which are of the utmost importance to them, but which, 
in all past times, have been held exclusively by the few. 
Witness the rapid spread of new and living ideas, the 
healthy, vigorous action of the mental faculties, induced 
by the universal circulation of knowledge. Men debate 
now in little gatherings around the fireside, and in the 
work-shops, upon subjects once confined to halls of scien- 
tific societies and theological councils ; and the little 
fellow, scarce out of the nursery, might teach, in sound 
doctrine, the plodding student of the past, whose years had 
numbered threescore and ten. Yea, teach a Moses of 
sun, moon and stars, a Solomon wisdom, and even a Paul 
the true principles of government. 

Wealth no longer holds in its relentless grasp the 
knowledge for which the human mind thirsts. Humanity 
is nearing its Father's house, and is giving up the dry 
husks of olden years for the better and more satisfying 
food of the present. 

Thank God that it is so ! Thank Him that He has 
seen us afar off, and is running to meet us! From amid 
the musty tomes of inherited ideas, and the crumbling 
pillars of ignorance and superstition, man is arising. He 



. 43 



is coming forth like Lazarus, from the dark tomb of error, 
to sit clothed and in his right mind, catching words of 
truth as they fall from the lips of God, and are recorded 
by the great penman, Nature, in that volume open to all, 
whose leaves are for the healing of the nations. 

Man has progressed. Man begins to feel his individ- 
uality, and to know that he has reason to guide him, and 
that it is no part of his duty to be led by blind faith ; 
feels that the mere say-so of any man, however great his 
pretensions may be, is not a sufficient foundation for him 
to rest upon, but that he must study and exercise his 
reason, that God-given, heaven-born attribute, so nearly 
allied to the divine mind in all matters of faith and prac- 
tice. 

The world is awaking. Step by step has been its course, 
until now mind governs matter, and the animal is subor- 
dinate to the spirit. 

This governing progression, from which there is no 
escape, either wilfully or by neglect, extends through all 
the limitless future. When man leaves this rudimental 
state of existence, he does not leave the jurisdiction of 
this law. Leaving this world, he enters the world of 
spirits unchanged in his moral and intellectual condition. 
If the man has, while in this world, used every means 
within his reach to press onward and grasp the great 
truths of God, he will continue to follow that inclination 
from the first moment he enters the spirit- world. If, on 
the other hand, he has cared for none of these things, if 
he has not become interested enough in the universe, 
within and without him, to put forth his hand and par- 
take of the bounties spread profusely around him, on his 
entrance there he will be as he was here, inactive, and 
unimpressible by the beauties and joys of the spirit- world. 



44 



The former will press onward and upward with the 
speed of a free spirit towards the perfections and the 
glories beyond ; the latter will remain apparently un- 
moved. 

As in this world some men advance to honorable posi- 
tions, overcoming every conceivable obstacle, while others 
remain in an inferior state, without manifesting the 
slightest desire to progress, so, in that other state to which 
we are all hastening, each will be governed by his own 
innate propensity. But think not that he whose condition 
is so abject will never advance. That law, eternal as 
God and universal as His works, has an influence upon 
him. That law which bids the stone in our streets grow, 
and it obeys, though slowly, and, to human eyes, almost, 
if not quite, imperceptibly, will cause every soul to pro- 
gress. The decree hath gone forth, God will draw all 
things unto Himself, and who shall stay His mighty pur- 
pose ? 

There are spirits whose progress is so slow that it can- 
not be seen but by the omniscient eye ; yet they do 
actually progress. There is an eternity before them all. 
Count, if you can, the ages that stretch onward in the 
future, and say is there not opportunity for the operations 
of that glorious law and governing principle to which all 
created things are and will be forever subject. y 

Of God, and through Him, and to Him, are all things.* 
He has so declared ; and every blade of grass putting 
forth its tiny fibres and stretching upward, every river 
pressing onward, every human mind aspiring to grasp 
some higher round in the ladder whose top no eye has 
seen, admit the truth. None but man denies it. Man, 

* Romans 11 : 36. 



45 



the fullest development of God's works on earth, says it 
is not so. Throwing aside his reason, he accepts as truth 
the errors of an unprogressed age. He closes his ear 
to the voice of God, speaking in all things to his soul ; 
he shuts his eye to Nature's plain disclosures, and says 
it is not so. In vain does truth present itself in a thou- 
sand attractive forms. In vain does an enlightened mind, 
freed from the fetters of a tyrannical authority, endeavor 
to direct the mass of mankind into the paths which 
Nature opens to the throne of God. In vain do holy 
spirits — angels of heaven — wing their way to earth, 
prove their identity, convince of their sincerity, and 
unite in repeating God's everlasting truth, that the soul 
progresses as ages revolve. Mankind spurn all. Bound 
with adamantine chains to an altar dedicated to an un- 
known God, they kiss the riven links — and call it sacri- 
legious to break their bands ! 

0, Man ! despising reason, — Man, limited by the length 
of a chain, and fearing to look beyond a prescribed range 
of thought ! will you not break your bands ? Will you 
rather wait until they rust from your hands, and you are 
driven like slaves to your Father's house, forced to inhabit 
one of those temples, not made with hands, and to take 
that place which truth has prepared for you ? 

How happy the thought that we are ever led onward ! 
that God takes no backward steps, neither suffers His 
works to remain idle ! 

With what ennobling ideas is the soul filled, as it thinks 
for a moment of its future career, of an eternity of pro- 
gression ! 0, how weak the human mind when it attempts 
to conceive of such a course ! To what measureless 
heights will the soul have ascended, when ages, which 
no figures can compute, shall have rolled away, and yet 



46 



the race will be but begun, the first step scarcely taken ! 
We shall ever be upon the threshold of God's temple ; 
for ever and ever, through ages unceasing, approach, but 
never reach, its inner court. 

Progression ! can you realize the meaning of that 
word ? Eternity is its course ; can you conceive of its 
duration ? 

I have written longer than I purposed, yet but a frac- 
tion of what I would say to you has been presented ; and 
feebly have I portrayed the deep feelings of my soul on 
the points alluded to. I am not alone in a change of 
belief; and, even if I were, it would be no matter of con- 
cern to me, for I have the full consciousness of being in 
the right path. Yet I am not alone ; there are tens of 
thousands in the leading churches of our land who enter- 
tain similar views with my own, and the time is near at 
hand when there w T ill be an overturn in the religious 
systems of the age that will be equalled only by the 
approaching political revolutions of Europe. 

And now I must close. In your letter to me you 
say: 

"We summon you to appear before the church on 
Friday evening, then and there to show reasons, if any 
you have, why the church should not proceed to separate 
you from its fold." 

Brethren, I have no such " reasons." I seek none. 
Should a man give a reason why he should be held to an 
erroneous belief? Does the slave love his chains so well 
that he would show his master how he might rivet them 
stronger ? Is darkness preferable to light ? Cold to 
warmth ? Falsehood to truth ? Reasons ! Reasons for 
what ? Reasons why you should not confirm my acts 
and opinions. I long ago excommunicated your doc- 



47 



trines from my fold, and shall I give reasons why you 
should not ratify that free act of my own ? I think 
not. 

I have nothing to retract ; not one word to alter ; 
and, though your excommunication was a step to the scaf- 
fold, I would not deny the faith that is in me. I know 
in what I believe. There is no doubting, no hesita- 
tion, no fear in the course laid out before me. 

Excommunication for opinion's sake, for conscience' 
sake, is an honor, not a shame. Jesus wore the 
badge. With it upon him he went to heaven, and 
found it no obstacle in his way to a seat at his 
Father's right hand. Paul wore it. All the good 
men of old wore it. Torture could not wrest it from 
them. Flames could not burn it off. Luther, Melancthon, 
gloried in it. Bunyan wore it in prison. Thousands 
have been excommunicated from the popular church for 
conscience' sake, and tens of thousands are yet to be. 
Man wishes to advance, and if the church will not ad- 
vance, he must come out from that church, and be separ- 
ate. If he cannot carry the "sluggish church" with 
him, he must go without it. 

Again, you say, "We entreat you to consider your 
course, and retrace your steps." 

Brethren, such advice comes late. I considered it 
long ago. I have considered every step I have taken ; 
and it is this act of consideration that has led me to re- 
nounce my former belief. You speak as though the in- 
evitable result of a consideration of my course would be 
to return to your belief ; but it is just the reverse. Had 
I not " considered," I might have remained within your 
" fold" till now. But I thank my Father in heaven that 



48 



I was led to consider my course, and, by His divine aid, 
have been led to change it. 

Retrace my steps ! No, never, until you can show me 
a brighter path, one upon which the light of heaven shines 
more benignantly ; not until you can lead my feet into 
steps more productive of true soul-happiness, whose 
course is more full of angelic joy — joy that the heart 
can feel. 

Retrace my steps ! You know not what you ask. 
Would you shut from my soul a faith, a daily experience, 
far surpassing, in heartfelt satisfaction, all that the most 
intense human language can express ? 

You say, " Meanwhile, we shall not cease to pray for 
your restoration and return to duty. ' ' Restoration to what ? 
To error. Return to duty ? I have not forsaken it. 
Brethren, pray not that I may return to your views, but 
rather pray for yourselves. Pray that you may be led to 
see God's holy truth. Pray for that independence of 
mind that will enable you to look at His manifestations 
of that truth, and to accept their teachings, even though 
they clash with your own preconceived views. Pray to 
God that He will lead you to the fountain of all truth, 
where you may drink and be refreshed with its pure 
waters. Then you will grow into His likeness ; then you 
will live more as man should live, with a greater joy 
dwelling within you ; and, when the time of your change 
shall come, you will meet it with a glad smile, and enter 
at once into the great temple of God, the house not made 
with hands, eternal in the heavens, with a faith that shall 
know no wavering. 

You and I might fall, and the waving grass conceal 
from mortal eyes the place of our burial ; the world, 
and all it contains, might pass away. The heavens, that 



49 



great storehouse of mighty constellations, which no man 
or angel can number, might be rolled together as a scroll 
and perish ; but truth would still exist. It would survive 
all these, and live, because God lived. We need not 
tremble for the truth. The efforts of man to build up 
this theory, or sustain that creed, will prove of no avail, 
unless they be founded on this rock of ages. The word 
of God is not confined to any book or books. Truth is 
the word of God, and wherever in the broad universe 
you find truth, there you find God's word. Paradise is 
before the human race, not behind it. The perfect man 
is the last, not the first. Instead of looking mournfully 
at the past, and lamenting over what has been called the 
fall of Adam, we should look forward to the future, and 
rejoice with great joy over the coming man. 

Methinks I am disenthralled from the conditions that 
bind me to earth ; and, a freed spirit, I stand above this 
world, trembling as I look below upon the chaotic mass 
of mind, that heaves and breaks on the shores of Human- 
ity. I tremble for the fate which I seem to see await 
it. But a good angel bids me look above. I turn my 
eyes heavenward, and I see a host which no man can 
number, bending all its energies for the relief and devel- 
opment of man. I see God as displayed in all His works, 
putting forth His powerful arm, and reaching down from 
the high glories of His most exalted existence, to lift man 
from the cold depths of the ocean of materialism, up to 
Himself, to bask in the warm sunlight of His love ; and 
my soul takes courage. 

0, who would not rest his faith on such a foundation 1 
I feel that God reigns, and I know that, angry and tur^ 
bulent as the sea of human destiny may now seem to. be* 
4 



50 



He hath said to its wild waters, "Peace, be still," and 
it is obeying His command. 

In the faith of one God, one Religion, one Destiny, for 
all mankind, I am, and shall be ever, your brother, 

JOHN S. ADAMS. 

Chelsea, May 25, 1854. 



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Remarks. By John S. Adams. 

*** The above is just published. Price 25 cents. 

It abounds with passages of the most thrilling and interesting nature. The words of the 
spirit, at first fraught with every agonizing emotion, gradually advance to the expression 
of the most pleasurable feelings of ecstatic joy. It is not a work of fiction. Every line is 
as it was spoken by the spirit, and the volume is but a record of facts as they actually 
transpired. 

A Letter to the Chestnnt-Street Congregational Church, Chelsea, Mass., in Reply to its 
Charge of having become a Reproach to the Cause of Truth in Consequence of a Change of 
Religious Belief. By John S. Adams. Price 15 cents. Just published. 

The " Ministry of Angels " Realized. A Letter to the Edwards Congregational Church, 
Boston. By Mr. and Mrs. A. E. Newton. Price 10 cents. 

The authors of this letter were, at the time of its writing, and for many years previously, 
members, in unexceptionable standing, of an Orthodox church ; and the letter was designed 
to acquaint their brothers and sisters with certain extraornidary experiences of angelic 
visitation and ministration which they were daily enjoying in the quietude of their own 
family circle, and which had not only furnished to them demonstration of a higher life, 
but had opened new treasures of love, wisdom and joy, flowing from celestial realms. 

A Review of the Criticisms of the Congregationalist on the " Letter to the Edwards 
Church," Including the Reply rejected by that Journal, and Embracing a Truthful Exhi- 
bition of the Unfairness, Injustice, Dogmatism and Phariseeism of its Editors, with a 
Thorough Refutation of the Great Argument, the " Puzzling Hypothesis" of Orthodoxy 
against Modern Communications from the Spirit World. By A. E. Newton. Price 10 cts. 

Answer to Charges of Belief in Modern Revelations, etc., given before the Edwards Con- 
gregational Church, Boston. By Mr. and Mrs. A. E. Newton ; Embracing, also, a Mes- 
sage to the Church from its Late Pastor ; the Withdrawal from Membership, and the Sub- 
sequent Discussion before the Church. Price 13 cents. 

The Religion of Manhood; or, The Age of Thought. By Dr. J. H. Robinson. With an 
Introduction by A. E. Newton. Price 50 cents. 

This is a valuable exposition of the theology and ethic? of Spiritualism, as apprehended 
by a cultivated and religious mind. It is accompanied by facts and arguments bearing on 
the question of the origin of the phenomena, etc. ; and is especially addressed to thinking 
men. who would know " whereunto these things will grow." The introduction, by Mr, 
Newton, contains a logical and forcible exhibition of the true nature of Inspiration — 
heretofore deemed so mysterious and miraculous — with evidence to show its recurrence at 
the present day. 

The above, together with many other works on Spiritualism and its teachings, published 
and for sale at wholesale and retail by Bkla Marsh, 1 5 Franklin-street, Boston ; Par- 
tridge & Brittan, oOO Broadway, New York ; 1$. Pkrcivu,, 8d South Sixth-street, Phil- 
adelphia ; F. Br,Y, Cincinnati ; T. WjGGLNS, St. Louis ; M. BOULLKRBT, Mobile ; J. C. 
Morgan, New Orleans ; and by booksellers generally. 



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